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Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, at the Legislative Council meeting today (June 22):
Questions:
The Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Secretary for Transport and Housing and the Secretary for the Environment earlier pointed out respectively on different occasions that more than 70 works projects would be affected by the judgment delivered by the High Court in April this year regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment reports for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Link Road and the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities projects. In this connection, will the Government set out in the attached table 1 and 2:
(a) relevant information on the aforesaid works projects being affected (Table 1); and
(b) relevant information on the works projects which will not be affected by the aforesaid court judgment (Table 2)?
Reply:
President:
On January 22, 2010, a citizen of Hong Kong made an application for judicial review regarding the air quality impact assessment in respect of Hong Kong section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge project. On April 18, 2011, the Court of First Instance (CFI) handed down the Judgment which rejected six of the seven issues contended by the Applicant. But after considering the purpose of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIA Ordinance), the CFI ruled that apart from assessing the cumulative environmental impact caused by the designated project, the EIA report should include a "stand alone" analysis of the project and put forward relevant mitigation measures, so as to allow the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) to consider whether the relevant impacts have been kept to the minimum. The Judgment gives rise to significant legal issues relating to the EIA Ordinance and to its implementation. After seeking legal advice and considering relevant factors thoroughly, the EPD lodged an appeal against the Judgment on May 13, 2011.
During the appeal process, EPD shall follow the Judgment when deciding on applications for EIA report approval or granting of environmental permits submitted under the EIA Ordinance.
The EIA process is open and transparent. Respective information on different stages of a project which undergoes EIA process under the EIA Ordinance can be located on EPD's website. The latest information of individual project will be updated periodically. The concerned website address is as follows: www.epd.gov.hk/eia/cindex.html. Regarding information on the project outside the EIA process, such as budget, progress, etc., and their ensuing changes as a result of the present CFI Judgment, it will need to be independently assessed by the project proponent having regard to the specific conditions of individual project.
Ends/Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:33
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